Paris-Nice to unfold with no time trials, summit finales

ASO unveiled a Paris-Nice route Wednesday that will lack a time trial or mountaintop finish, and organizers hope this brings out the attacks. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com

The 2014 Paris-Nice will be unlike any stage race in recent memory. Organizers have served up a course without time trials or mountaintop finishes.

The eight-day “Race To The Sun,” from the outskirts of Paris to Nice, certainly features some undulating terrain, including some hard climbs across the Massif Central and near France’s Cote d’Azur, but there will not be an opening-day prologue nor a closing-day time trial, as has been the recent tradition up Col d’Eze, where Richie Porte (Sky) sealed victory last year.

According to race organizer ASO, the race is tipped toward the “audacious,” and should see an intense battle for positioning. All of the stage profiles have yet to be released, but several stages feature late climbs within the closing 30 minutes of racing that will set the stage for attacks to break apart the peloton.

The penultimate stage, however, features a short, punchy uphill finale that could prove decisive.

The final stage includes five rated climbs, including the Cat. 1 Col d’Eze, but rather than finishing atop the emblematic climb, it will drop down to the Promenade des Anglais.

As ASO promised in its announcement Wednesday, the race could be decided with bonuses on the finish line.

Andrew Hood

Andrew Hood cut his journalistic teeth at Colorado dailies before the web boom opened the door to European cycling in the mid-1990s. Hood has covered every Tour de France since 1996 and has been VeloNews' European correspondent since 2002.